Chen Qi scrolled through his phone while eating.
When he saw an unread message from someone saved as Aunt Wang, he instinctively tensed up.
He tapped the chat and read it.
“Xiao Chen, pay next quarter’s rent in the next couple of days.”
Aunt Wang was his landlord. She never looked friendly, always wearing a sour expression.
“Aunt Wang, I’m moving out in the next couple of days. I won’t be renting anymore.”
“You’re not renting anymore? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I still need to find a new tenant. Honestly.”
Chen Qi figured she might try to nitpick and charge him for damages, but now he didn’t care at all.
“I’ll come at 1 p.m. to take my things and return the key.”
The rental was full of junk. The most valuable thing he had was an ASUS laptop he bought in college. After four or five years, it lagged terribly.
As for the clothes, he planned to just give them away to a scrap collector later.
The most important things were his graduation certificate, driver’s license, some documents, and a few old family photos from his childhood.
He opened another chat. The WeChat name was “Yaoyao Not Sexy.” It was obvious who it was.
She had accepted his friend request last night.
“Brother Shao, your WeChat name is so interesting. It matches your Douyin name, right?”
Chen Qi’s WeChat name was “What to Eat Later.” It used to be the same on Douyin, but last night he changed it to “Roast Duck Rice Small Portion.”
At 1 a.m., when Chen Qi went offline, Sun Yiyao had sent, “Good night, Brother~”
At 9 a.m., she sent another message, “Brother, are you awake?”
Only now did Chen Qi reply, “What’s your real name? I’ll save it.”
At that moment, Sun Yiyao was in a meeting with her agency. The surge of traffic last night had pushed her follower count past 1 million.
If she could seize this wave and go viral, both she and the agency would profit greatly.
“Yaoyao, we’ll assign you an assistant tonight to help with interactions.”
“And that Brother Roast Duck—has he contacted you? You must hold onto a big spender like that.”
“If he comes back and spends again, you’ll completely take off. Then we’ll fully promote you. Breaking into the top-tier streamers within two months isn’t impossible.”
“This guy is too mysterious. He even set his account to private. You can’t follow him, and he hasn’t followed you either.”
When Chen Qi sent his first Carnival, Sun Yiyao had already tried to follow him, only to find his account was private.
Even after becoming friends, he barely spoke.
She even suspected he might be some middle-aged boss who happened to see her dance, impulsively spent 1 million yuan, and then stopped using Douyin altogether.
Just then, her phone buzzed. Chen Qi had replied.
“Brother, just call me Yaoyao.”
Chen Qi sent back, “I’m used to saving full names.”
So old-fashioned… probably really a middle-aged man. Still, facing a big spender, Sun Yiyao quickly sent her name.
“Let’s have a meal sometime.”
Chen Qi didn’t waste time—after just a few lines, he directly invited her to eat.
Sun Yiyao was already used to this. Dining with big spenders was a required skill for female streamers. How well they handled it depended on their ability.
“Sure. Brother, where are you? Yaoyao is in Donghai City.”
“Same city.”
“What a coincidence. Then tomorrow at noon?”
“Alright, tomorrow noon.”
Chen Qi didn’t continue chatting. When interacting with women now, he was in the dominant position. There was no need to please them like before.
These days, he hadn’t been chatting much with Xu Lu or Han Linlin either. If he could meet in person, he would. A hundred messages weren’t as effective as one luxury bag.
Sun Yiyao told the agency staff, “Brother Roast Duck replied. He’s also in Donghai City. We’re meeting tomorrow at noon.”
The person in charge, Li Xiang, said, “Yaoyao, opportunities are seized by yourself.”
“Tomorrow, first find out what kind of person he is. If he’s really a low-key big shot, this could be your chance to turn things around.”
“Then even your family’s problems won’t be problems anymore.”
The agency knew that Sun Yiyao had rejected her previous top donors.
They often hinted that streamers should sleep with their top donors so that those donors would keep spending in the livestream.
That way, the agency could earn more from the gifts.
To them, streamers were just tools for making money. They didn’t care what those “tools” thought.
Of course, Sun Yiyao understood the agency’s intentions. She knew that in this industry, sleeping with donors had become common.
But there was a line she couldn’t cross.
She could dine and sing with them, treating it as work—like entertaining clients.
But sleeping with them? That, she couldn’t do.
“Yaoyao, with your looks and figure, you’re already excellent. You just lack an opportunity.”
Li Xiang had said this to many streamers before. He even said it when he himself wanted to sleep with them.
Sun Yiyao nodded, but deep down, she still hadn’t compromised.
Chen Qi drove to his rental apartment.
It was an old residential complex with narrow roads and limited parking.
The security guard, an elderly man, poked his head out of the booth. Under the midday sun, his bald head gleamed.
“Outside vehicles are not allowed in.”
Chen Qi didn’t want to walk under the scorching sun, so he rolled down the window and said, “Uncle Zhang.”
Uncle Zhang felt the person in the car looked familiar. He stepped out of the booth and walked over.
“Isn’t this Xiao Chen? How did you end up riding in a Mercedes?”
Chen Qi had picked up packages from the security office a few times before and chatted with Uncle Zhang when he had nothing to do. The old man remembered him.
Didn’t this kid rent a tiny room? How can he afford such an expensive car?
Chen Qi smiled. “Made a bit of money.”
“You’re something else, kid. This car must cost 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, right?”
Not all men understood cars. Many only recognized the logo.
Uncle Zhang knew the Mercedes wasn’t cheap, but he had no idea it was actually a Maybach S800 worth over 6 million yuan.
“Uncle Zhang, I’m here to end the lease. I’ll grab my things and leave right away.”
“You’re moving out?”
Chen Qi turned to the driver. “Master Zhu, do you have any cigarettes?”
Zhu Quan did have some, but they were only Liqun brand, worth a little over 20 yuan a pack. Someone staying in a Presidential Suite like Chen Qi wouldn’t be interested in those.
“Mr. Chen, I don’t smoke anything expensive. If you want, I can go buy some.”
“Alright, go get two cartons of Soft Zhonghua. There’s a convenience store nearby.”
As he spoke, Chen Qi transferred 2,000 yuan to him.
Zhu Quan checked his phone and quickly said, “Mr. Chen, Soft Zhonghua doesn’t cost that much. 1,300 yuan is enough.”
Chen Qi didn’t smoke and didn’t know the exact price. He only knew it was around 600 to 700 yuan per carton, so he just sent 2,000. A few hundred more didn’t matter to him.
“Just take it and go buy them.”
Zhu Quan knew that wealthy people often tipped, so he didn’t argue and quickly got out of the car to buy the cigarettes.
Chen Qi opened the rear door. “Uncle Zhang, it’s hot outside. Come sit inside.”
Uncle Zhang had never sat in such a spacious luxury car before. He got in immediately.
The genuine leather seats were a thousand times more comfortable than the hard plastic seats on a bus. The car was filled with cool air conditioning and a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Breathing it in made him feel refreshed, and even the irritability of the summer heat faded away.